"He was a really good man and he was always trying to make people feel better," said Khadijah Peek, a second cousin.

Peek continued: "We can only learn from this situation and we have to fight that hate."

Others lamented that some media outlets had originally mischaracterized their friend as homeless.

"He never would have been homeless, not with the family on both sides that he had," said Charles Johnson, who said he met Caughman as a 3-year-old boy. "As far as his bottles, collecting cans, he was doing that with a purpose."

With the coins he received in exchange for the recyclables, Caughman would buy Amtrak tickets to Washington, D.C., where he would attend congressional hearings and strike up conversations in the Capitol's cafeteria.